Adrian Ryan

Adrian Ryan is an electronic and mechanical engineer, recently retired having worked as the Chief Engineer for sateliite communications in both the hardware and software disciplines for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) for the past 30 years. He always wanted to fly, but the pressures of the job plus family meant that he was unable to devote sufficient time to it until now. He has travelled extensively having lived in Italy, Belgium, USA, Norway, Iceland, Canada and many other places, and has now retired to sunny Cyprus, the "Jewel Of The Mediterranean." Finally he's able to devote his full time and energy to flying, and even though now 69, is still a "big kid" at heart. In addition to aviation, he is a ham radio operator, holding the call sign 5B4AIY, a photographer, musician, and a writer.

Despite all the times I’ve practised these things, both in the aircraft and the simulator, you know at the back of your mind that it’s not real, and that if things do not work out as planned, you can always open the throttle and go around. Only when it’s the real thing do you know whether you can actually handle it or not.

The Angel on my right shoulder whispers, “This is not the time for you to be doing this, look at those clouds!” but the Devil on my left shoulder says, “Aw c’mon! You’re only going for a short flight, you’ve got to be able to fly in this, what’s stopping you?”

Fly along with new contributor Adrian Ryan, as he shares the story of his first solo, at a busy airline airport in Cyprus. To top things off, the flight was just a few days before his 69th birthday. Do you remember the thrill of your first solo? Share your story.

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